Method of making shoes.



E. L. KEYES.

METHOD OF MAKINGSHOES. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 1. 19m.

,1%3.97Q. Patented June 22, 1915.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGTON, D. C.

ft ATWT il i EUGENE L. KEYES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 22, 1915.

Original application filed Apri1 28, 1911, Serial No. 623,874. Divided and this application filed November 7,

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, EUGENE L. KnYEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Methods of Making Shoes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the manufacture of boots and shoes and particularly to improvements in methods of lasting. This application is a division of application, Ser. No. 6323,87 1, filed April 28, 1911, in which is claimed one form of apparatus by the aid of which I have practised the invention, although this invention is independent of any particular apparatus and may be practised by hand. This method includes the steps of anchoring the end of a toe binding strand of wire or the like to the shoe at one side of the toe, maintaining the wire under tension against the upper along the side of the toe and, while so holding the wire under tension against the upper, pulling the upper and plaiting or otherwise manipulating it into lasted position by drawing it under the wire. By this method the workman is enabled to begin the lasting and plaiting at the middle of the toe if desired and to work first backwardly along the side of the toe toward the anchor tack while causing the binding wire to hold the upper as the lasting proceeds. The last may then be turned progressively to cause the wire to bind along the second side and the upper lasted step by step along that side to a second anchor tack to which the wire will then be fastened under tension.

Experience has demonstrated that this invention is of particular utility in lasting the toes of turn shoes. In the manufacture of many turn shoes the requirements of the trade are met by gathering the upper materials over the toe of the sole under very moderate tension and confining them in position where the turn sewing machine instrumentalities can act advantageously upon them to tighten and form them to the shoulder of the sole and fasten them by stitches. By the method of this present invention the preparation of the shoe toe for the turn Serial No. 870,811.

sewing machine can be performed very eX- pedltiously; also the presence of lasting tacks heretofore very commonly used around the toe is avoided to the obvious advantage of the sewing operation.

This invention is to be clearly distinguished from the lasting operation as practised by lasting machines in which the upper is pulled up and plaited before the binding wire comes into binding or confining engagement with the portion of upper that is being pulled.

The invention will now be described with the aid of the accompanying drawings and will then be pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 represents the toe portion of a shoe being lasted in accordance with this invention; Fig. 2 represents a later stage in the lasting operation; Fig. 3 shows the shoe with the binding wire anchored and positioned ready for the lasting of the upper to be begun. This figure also shows the apparatus referred to.

In the practice of the invention the shoe to be operated upon, consisting of a sole or an innersole and upper materials assembled on a last, and which may or may not have been side lasted, is conveniently mounted upon a support, as the jack 5 which will permit the shoe to be moved as may be required. The binding wire 20 is also conveniently led from a reel 4 through a frictional guide or other device by which to assist in maintaining tension upon it, as for example the tension device 6 and the guide 8, there being advantageously capacity for movements of the wire guiding devices as well as of the shoe jack. As shown, the guide is hinged to its support and is itself extensible and has a tubular free end through which the wire is led and which enables the operator to handle the wire and apply tension thereto without danger of cutting his hands. These aids to the operator are by no means essential as he can hold the shoe between his knees and manipulate the bare wire with his hands.

The free end of the binding wire 20 is anchored to a tack 21 at one side of the shoe as in Fig. 3 and the wire is positioned along the side of the toe in such manner as to confine the upper between the wire and the sole. The upper may be bent by the wire over the feather 10 against the shoulder 12 of the sole. The upper is then drawn up as for example by the use of hand lasters pincers, and if necessary plaited under the Wire to dispose ofthe fullness in the margin of the upper. Advantageously under some conditions the pulling up and plaiting may be begun at the end of the toe as shown in Fig. 2, and while the wire is held under tension in engagement with the upper the upper will be pulled into lasted position and the plaits laid toward the end of the toe, the pulling and plaiting being repeated on successive portions of the upper and progressing backwardly along the side of the toe toward the anchor tack 21. Then the upper will be lasted along the other side of the toe from the end backwardly, and the plaits there laid toward the toe as shown in Fig. 3, while causing the wire to be wrapped around the second side of the toe to hold the upper in position as it is lasted. The wire will then be anchored, as to a tack 22, to fasten it under tension in position to hold the upper in such lasted relation to the sole or innersole as will enable the sewing machines usually employed to draw the upper tightly to the shoulder of the sole and permanently fasten'it.

Having explained the nature of this invention and described how it may be practised, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in anchoring a toe binding wire at its free end to one side of the shoe; holding said wire under tension in engagement with the upper along the side of the toe; beginning at the end of the toe and pulling and plaiting the upper into lasted position, laying the plaits toward the toe; then lasting the other side of the toe from the end thereof backwardly along said side of the toe and laying the plaits toward the toe while causing the wire to be wrapped around the second side of the toe to hold the upper in position as it is lasted.

2. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in anchoring a toe binding wire at its free end to one side of the shoe; holding said wire under tension in engagement with the upper along the side of the toe; pulling and manipulating the upper under the wire toward lasted position over the margin of the shoe sole or innersole; turning the shoe to wrap the binding wire around the toe ahead of the lasting as the lasting operation proceeds and drawing up each successive portion of the upper between said wire and the sole; and finally anchoring the wire at that side of the toe at which the lasting is finished.

3. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in anchoring a toe binding wire at its free end to one side of the shoe; holding said wire under tension in engagement with the upper along the side of the toe; pulling and manipulating the upper under the wire toward lasted position over the margin of the shoe sole or innersole; turning the shoe to wrap the binding wire around the toe ahead of the lasting as the lasting operation proceeds, and laying toward the center of the toe first along one side of the toe and then along the other side the plaits required for disposing of the fullness produced by gathering the marginal portion of upper materials inwardly over the curved edge of the toe; and anchoring the second end of the wire to maintain the wire under binding tension.

4-. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in anchoring a toe binding Wire at its free end to one side of the shoe; holding said wire under tension in position to confine the margin of the upper between the wire and the sole of the shoe; pulling up the confined upper step by step around the toe and increasing the tension on the wire as necessary to restrain the successively pulled up portions of upper from slipping back; and anchoring the wire to maintain the tension.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EUGENE L. KEYES.

Witnesses:

CHAS. L. MILLER, Bnssrn MoKowN.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0. 

